Epilogue - 010

There wasn't sunlight right at dawn. The snow-tipped mountain peaks lit up one by one, like beacons of peach and gold flame. But it took a while for the brightness to creep down the granite cliffs and into the pass. When it broke upon the ledge, dazzling and warm, Commander Jillian Zamussels was already mounted.

From his perch on top of the coffin, Vinny Doombats watched her tack up. The start of the turn had cleansed them both, and her whole face was now clear of soot and grime. No trace of tracks down her cheeks, as she squinted in the sun. From the set of her jaw, the steel in her gaze...there wouldn't be any more tears there for a long time. She looked Royal. Tough like a Royal. He had never really doubted it, he realized.

He floated down to the rocky ground and collapsed his coffin to fist size. This he put away into his cape, petting his last three bats as they squirmed around in there, still fighting over each other's rations. He didn't say anything more to Zamussels. What could he? All he could do was keep an eye on her.

Caesar and the rest floated over. They'd been keeping their distance, but now were almost casually surrounding her to either side of the pass. They even had some bats out, stretching their wings in the sun.

Caesar was smiling. Dangerous, in Vinny's experience. Caesar tended to smile only when cornered. How could that be, though?

Jillian ignored the Chief Warlord until his fanged mug was inches from her ear.

"You will like this," he told her.

His voice was so smooth and certain that she dropped the pretense of ignoring him, turned her head, and stared at him like a kestrel.

"This mission's been changed." His voice suddenly became louder, and his tone mock-formal. "Princess Zamussels. His Royal Highness Don King requests the pleasure of an audience with you at his court, in the capital city of Transylvito. We are here to serve as your Royal escort. We fly at your pleasure."

Caesar did his best to bow, but it came off as completely sarcastic. Vinny's hand went to his mouth in a gesture he hoped would look thoughtful, but which he was using to cover a grin that was trying to break out.

Jillian straightened, and folded her hands on the saddle horn. The gwiffon shifted its weight as a light breeze stirred. The other warlords watched her in silence, from a distance that bordered on respectful.

She cleared her throat. "What happens if I decline?" Her voice was low and deadly.

Caesar put up his hands in a "Titan's forbid" gesture. "Surely her Royal Highness is speaking hypothetically. As a mere Noble, I can only speculate on the etiquette n' protocol of refusing a Royal invitation. But," and here he drew a black spring-loaded dagger from his belt and snicked out the blade, "it would seem unwise." His formal, insincere smile finally dimmed and went out.

He held up the dagger at a casual angle and looked her in the eye. "We are here...to serve as your Royal escort."

This...was not actually anything to grin about, Vinny realized. It was weird. "Mere Noble?" And Caesar'd just used the word "Royal" more times than it usually came up in a half-dozen turns around Transylvitians. Yeah, they had a King on the throne, but this wasn't Jetstone. They never had that crap about station. In this kingdom, the perqs always went to whoever got the job done.

Jillian barely gave the dagger a glance. "One turn. Can we spare one turn to try to catch him?"

Caesar slowly, condescendingly, shook his head. His lips were pursed in an "aw, poor baby" pout, but he said nothing.

Jillian blew out a breath. "Right." The warlord reached down to her thigh and removed the blond hair-helmet from her only open saddlebag. She buckled the bag, resized the helmet, and snapped it to her head. "So we go west."

either way a piker isn't becoming a barbarian from what we know. they are simple units and seem to belong to the city that pops them. i do remember reading that if the leader is croaked units cease to function until a new side either claims them, or croaks them. jillian is not frozen so must be a ruler with no city.

which ties in with ansom and vinny's discussion about whether she's a royal. she IS a leader, they would see bonuses on their units when she's leading them if they can't directly see her stats. their discussion are of the nature of her leadership.

either way i still don't like these people. luckily i hadn't found erfworld at the point the last transylvito stuff happened so i just sort of glazed those pages. i love finding webcomics that are far advanced in their progress so i can blitz through 1200 pages in a night (that comic was JACK)

it's safe assumption jillian is an heir or else she would have frozen when faq was defeated. she's not frozen and has barbarian status, thus she can move into a city and start a new side. either FAQ was royal or it was overlord, and ansom was a snooty jerk about non royals.

That assumes that Banhammer was killed before the last city fell, which seems reasonable. The rule for a city falling is all defending units in the city are killed. Thus, Faq city would have had to be the last city to fall, and he would have had to be the last unit killed, for his death to also mark the falling of the Faq's last city.

I thought all units above Commander became barbarians when the last city falls, as well as everybody lucky enough to be in their stacks.

Perhaps the don wants her to build her cities and act as a buffer between him and gk, better to let somone else fall then to waist troops gaurding a city she can run for him, of course given that there is already going to be alot of things on gk's to do list, so this seems unlikely.

more likely by far in my oppinion is that he is aware of what has happened to ansome and wants to use her as a pawn against him, or perhaps intends to make some sort of trade. Hell for all we know he may be trading her to charles

I thought all units above Commander became barbarians when the last city falls, as well as everybody lucky enough to be in their stacks.

According to one of Parson's klogs, if the last city of a side falls, all "field units" disband. The question is what "disband" means.

simple, trashpile. what else can it mean? the discard pile in a card game, tossed out next turn with the corpses to clear the field for other people

anyway that was never the discussion. some people were not sure whether it was common knowledge that jillian was a royal. it's pretty clear she was either royal OR just an overlord. to all intents and purposes only an overlord has truly free will in erfworld so you cannot exist if yours falls. if stanley left faq unattended, the city may actually have a full contingent of troops. he clearly didn't take the city, the fighting was over in one turn so he and his dragons probably went straight for the king. didn't claim the city, took the casters they wanted and left. maybe transylvito did some recon on the area's FAQ may have been in and discovered the city is still full of troops and jillian would be needed to make them loyal to someone.

if that's the case, putting jillian on that throne and making sure she's in an alliance with them is the best case scenario

I'm not so sure about the "city still guarded" idea, Jillian seemed pretty sure that the place was destroyed, and for that matter Why would she be a barbarian if the city was still standing? Even if she had no intrest in leading would she have the option of chooseing to be a barbarian?

Also it was my impression that FAQs main line of defence was jack cloaking it, but jack is gone now, and there is no word of them having a any commander, so not only is it not hidden any more, but it must be easy takeings. Then there is Stan, he clearly thought his personal knights and dwagons where enough to take the place, but they where beat by the vamps, by that logic can not the vamps take the city without help?

simple, trashpile. what else can it mean? the discard pile in a card game, tossed out next turn with the corpses to clear the field for other people

Sounds reasonable.

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anyway that was never the discussion.

I'll admit I didn't follow it much. However, I though the question was what happens if you disband a field unit and how this relates to Jillian. Was she a field unit which was disbanded when Faq fell.

My view is the process given in my last post. As an Heir or Queen, she would be converted to barbarian when Faq was destroyed. Normal field units de-pop.

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if stanley left faq unattended, the city may actually have a full contingent of troops. ........ maybe transylvito did some recon on the area's FAQ may have been in and discovered the city is still full of troops and jillian would be needed to make them loyal to someone.

In effect, they froze due to the King dying?

If the cities are still Faq cities, then Jillian should have been converted to a Queen as soon as Banhammer died, since she was Heir. Ofc, perhaps, Banhammer didn't make her Heir in the end (it may not be automatic) and he didn't want a warrior to become Queen.

It is possible that the cities are still in operation and Jillian is already Queen, and just doesn't realise it. If they had no Thinkamancer, they couldn't contact her and ask her to return home. Without a Ruler to give commands, they could be effectively operating on auto-pilot.

However, she should "see" the city management UI with which Rulers set the build queues etc. Also, she should have an massive purse and see the city's treasury. This might not kick in until she enters the capital though.

If the cities are still Faq cities, then Jillian should have been converted to a Queen as soon as Banhammer died, since she was Heir. Ofc, perhaps, Banhammer didn't make her Heir in the end (it may not be automatic) and he didn't want a warrior to become Queen.

It is possible that the cities are still in operation and Jillian is already Queen, and just doesn't realise it. If they had no Thinkamancer, they couldn't contact her and ask her to return home. Without a Ruler to give commands, they could be effectively operating on auto-pilot.

However, she should "see" the city management UI with which Rulers set the build queues etc. Also, she should have an massive purse and see the city's treasury. This might not kick in until she enters the capital though.

A queen needs to be crowned to become a real queen. Jillian probably first needs to claim a city to become a queen. And we know that she is barbarian, the stupid meal explicitly state her as barbarian, not Faq.

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